Master Fishermen

First off, Jarron started work on Tuesday. YEAH!! He commutes about an hour each way four days a week but he enjoys the people he works with and the type of therapy he'll be doing once training is over. Before he started, he had about 2 weeks off after graduation in which we moved all of our stuff and spent some time with the boys. I'd like to recount one of the family activities we had:

Last Friday we went fishing at a man-made lake close to Richland with Jarron's older brother and two of his kids. Cameron started to wander around waiting for a fish to bite and decided to poke sticks into the water instead. He was about 30 yards away when, all of a sudden, he came racing around the bend yelling, "I caught a fish! I caught a fish!" Mind you, he had no fishing rod and was all alone so I was skeptical. Low and behold, as he got closer I saw a real, living fish in his hands!! We were all shocked and asked him how he caught it. He said, "I just saw it start to swim away so I stepped in a little bit and got it." Seriously. The child caught a fish with his bare hands. He never ceases to amaze me. So here are a few pics of the incident and a couple of Mayes demonstrating his emerging fisherman skills.

The Palm Springs of Washington

Today Jarron and I took the boys to Yakima, WA (self-proclaimed to be the "Palm Springs" of WA) so we could check out our future hometown. Jarron starts work at the hospital there on Tuesday and we are SO excited to start paying off student loans and save money for a house.

Our itenerary was simple: scout out the local high schools and desired neighborhoods and get a feel for the housing market. We'll see what happens as far as home buying goes--Jarron has already decided on which house he wants and is praying it stays on the market for a (potentially long) while. Aptly, the house is on Trout Lake Court.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Yakima. There are a lot of great parks, newer areas, a charming "historic" downtown (where the hospital is), and great views. I felt a little more at "home" in Yakima with the snow-capped mountain range nearby. I guess Utah grew on me more than I realized. I need scenery in my life!

On a related note (well, not really but it happened while we were driving), Cameron asked me to find his superheroes. "You know, mom...The orange and green ones. One has hair that feels like chocolate and one has a helmet." Help! What in the world is he talking about??

Forget H1N1; I may have Hantavirus.

First, a definition. Then a story.

Hantavirus: Hantavirus is a disease characterized by symptoms that resemble the flu, followed by respiratory failure. Hantavirus is carried by rodents, particularly deer mice, and is present in their urine and feces. The virus does not cause disease in the carrier animal. Humans are thought to become infected when they are exposed to contaminated dust from the nests or droppings of mice.

I thought I would live my whole life without needing to be educated on this disturbing disease, but since I wasn't so fortunate to live in ignorance, you no longer will either.

The back story: WE FINALLY MOVED OUR STUFF OUT OF UTAH!! It is now in a storage unit in WA until we buy a home. (Don't ask when that will be because I have no answer.) Jarron and I left our boys with his sister, Tiffany (THANKS FOR BABYSITTING!!) and headed to SLC to clean out our apartment. We were blessed a million times during this journey and I will abbreviate the details by saying that I am truly amazed at how aware Heavenly Father is of our family. Jarron's amazing(ly strong) friends loaded the truck within a couple of hours and I really didn't have to do much. My only task was to assist Natalie (Jarron's younger sister) in pitching our crappy entertainment center off our four story balcony. All went well.

Then Jarron and I headed to Idaho Falls to fetch a fridge and piano from my parents. I had been SO excited to finally have the piano in my possession and had spent hours convincing Jarron that it was worth the trouble and expense to keep it for our future home. He grumbled, complained, finally admitted defeat, and was ready to move it into the truck as soon as we got to my parent's home. I asked my mom for a dusting cloth and cleaner and started to wipe down the piano before I would let Jarron load it. (It had been stored in the garage for the past few months and was quite dirty.) Then I opened the fall board that covers the keys and saw some sticky yellowish gunk all over the white keys. I grimaced and thought, "What the crap is all over my piano??!" Then I pushed the fall board all the way back and found a freaking DEER MOUSE huddled in the high notes!! I spent the next few seconds screaming my bloody head off while my half-lunatic mother attempted to PET the vermin! Screaming commenced (solely on my part) until my mom found her wits and shooed it out. She then assured me that it hadn't been there long because there wasn't much excrement. (Is that supposed to relieve me?) I had enough of cleaning and left the rest to my mom. Jarron and I measured and rearranged the truck while we waited for my mom to finish. When I went to check on her progress, she told me that she had lifted the top board and found a NEST and TWO MORE MICE. (Not to mention, a LOT of poop.)

More screaming.

My good mother cleaned it out the best she could and then we loaded it onto the truck. She promised to pay for professional cleaning, but I am now wondering if I can stomach keeping my dear, infected piano. It wasn't until later that evening that I learned about hantavirus. A Canadian report said that only 6% of all mice studied were found to be contaminated. Relieving? Not really. This was a Canadian report and the incident I am worried about happened in America. I will let you know if my health fails within the next 5 weeks (potential incubation period for hantavirus). And YAY if it doesn't, but then there's always the swine-flu. Ain't nature fascinating?

PS--anybody in need of a piano?

JARRON PASSED HIS BOARDS!

'nuff said.

birds and bees: TAKE 1

Cameron learned a new, interesting, and fun fact from [name withheld for privacy]. He came up to me today and asked, "Mom, you know 'UTERUS'?" I said, "Um, you mean 'generous'?" He said, "No. UTERUS. With a 'T' sound. YOU-TER-US." Now that I was certain about what he was saying, I replied, "Oh, uterus? What's that?" Then Cameron educated me by telling me it was where babies grow and the uterus keeps them from falling out before they're born. Baby genius? No! He had a scientific discussion with [name withheld] about why older women can't have babies!

Oh, they grow so fast....

there and back again

Last Thursday, I ventured back to Salt Lake City from Washington. And when I say "I", I really mean my lone self with my two boys. It was a business trip, really; I apologize for keeping it on the DL but there was little pleasure to be had. I spent my time getting our apartment "move-out ready", doing paperwork for various things, paying money to greedy institutions, and taking care of last minute errands before we say good-bye to Utah forever. The few highlights were seeing Jarron's younger sibs (thanks to Rory and Cambria for watching Cameron!!) and briefly visiting a few friends. Other than that though, it was work, work, work. I do feel more resolved about our move to WA though; I had previously felt some sadness about leaving Utah. Staying a few nights in our apartment curbed those negative feelings--I will NOT miss the pigeons that roost and warble and poop on our balcony, and nor will I miss the 5 flights of stairs or sharing walls/floors/and ceilings with other people. But since I made this trip alone without my helpmeet, I need to toot my own horn and share a few road trip stats. So here goes:

Number of:
sick people: 3 (yes, the boys and I were virus ridden)
double ear infections: 1 (Mayes)
rock chips: 2 (and State Farm doesn't cover those, costing me $31.95)
partial tumbleweeds found stuck under the car: 3
miles driven: about 1500. give or take.
times the gas light went on: 1
minutes waiting in a rest-stop bathroom while Cameron decided if he still had to "go": 45
calls/texts from Jarron while on the road: 4
stops: one each way. My kids were awesome (or else I was just mean)

movies played: surprisingly, only three each way

Average speed: we'll say 84+

Top speed: 95 (accidentally and briefly reached three times)

times I wished I had cruise control: dozens (my driving is a little erratic)

hours each way: 9+

The worst part about driving was the WIND on the way back. Nothing could prepare me for the tornado-like gales of eastern Oregon/Washington. My muscles hurt from trying to keep our car on the road and I have yet to receive a full-body massage. This Wizard of Oz weather does not cut it for me.

We will be back in a few weeks to move all of our belongings. Again, it will be fast and furious and we wont get to see anyone (unless you want to help carry stuff down the said 5 flights of stairs...). Now it's time to unpack and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

bubble trouble

Amidst running errands today, i parked along a street to address some envelopes, etc. before going into the post office. I turned around when I was finished to ask the boys if they were ready to go inside only to find a string of GUM running from the side of Cameron's head (translation: stuck in his hair) to his lap. OMG. What was he thinking? I'm not sure. All I know is that he frequently asks me to put glue on his hands so he can scale walls like Spiderman. Maybe he was planning on using the gum for some future edifice mounting? *sigh* So I pulled as much as I could out of his hair and told him that we still had to go inside the post office. Cameron started crying and asked what people would do to him/say when they saw that he had a wad of gum stuck in his hair. I told him they wouldn't do/say anything and got him calmed down. (He is uber-sensitive.) Then he thought it was hilarious that his hair stuck out and kept trying to admire it in every window we walked by. He now has a small bald patch where I removed it but he doesn't want me to buzz his head to even it out. Aye de mi. At least he's a boy and not a girl. (sorry, no picture as I had no camera on me at the time. rats.)